Etymologically
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symmetric

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Pronunciation

  • /sɪˈmɛt.ɹɪk/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English symmetry + -ic,[2][3][4] after geometric;[3] the OED compares symétrique, earlier symmetrique, from 1529.[3] Symmetry is from symmetrie or symmetria, from Ancient Greek συμμετρία (summetría, “agreement in dimensions, due proportion”), from σύμμετρος (súmmetros, “having a common measure, proportionate”), from σύν (sún) and μέτρον (métron, “measure”).[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Having its parts in due proportion: Etymonline dates the word to the 1660s,[2] while the OED's first record, in the sense "symmetrical", is from 1796, in Charles Burney's memoirs of Metastasio.[3]

Semantic evolution

English had several forms of the adjective: symmetrial from the 1610s, symmetral from the 1650s, "agreeing in measurement" or "agreeing with divine order", and symmetrical from 1751.[2][3] Symmetrical became the usual form,[4][3] and symmetric is now mostly its synonym, preferred in technical uses.[5][3] In physics it has been used since 1935 in the sense of symmetrical,[3] and in logic since 1933 of a relation that still holds when its two terms are swapped, as is a sibling of does.[3][5] Mathematics also has the symmetric determinant.[4]

Timeline

  • 1660s – having parts in due proportion.[2] The OED's first record, in the same sense as symmetrical, is from 1796.[3]
  • 1933 – logic, of a relation that holds both ways.[3]
  • 1935 – physics, symmetrical.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Having symmetry; the same as symmetrical.[5][3][4][6]
  2. (logic, mathematics) Of a relation: holding between y and x whenever it holds between x and y.[5][3]
  3. (physics) Unchanged by a given transformation, symmetrical.[3]

Word family

  • antisymmetric
  • asymmetric
  • axisymmetric
  • centrosymmetric
  • monosymmetric
  • skew-symmetric
  • symmetric difference
  • symmetric function

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster